Kids are continuously learning and growing and seem to have an endless supply of energy. Food is what fuels each and every one of us and for children the food they eat is very important. Not only do kids need fuel for day-to-day life, they also require good amounts of nutrients to support their body to grow and brain to develop. For kids who are quite active or play sports, their energy needs are even higher. Feeding the appetite of your children can sometimes be challenge. Some days it seems they are constantly searching the cupboard for snacks to fill them up.

Children are generally good at gauging their hunger levels and eating to meet their energy needs, which can vary from day to day. Snacks make up an important part of the diet and should be seen as a way to boost your kids’ intake of vitamins, minerals and nutrients – rather than a time for treat foods which tend to provide the energy but with much less of the nutrients. The best place to start is with the Food and Nutrition Guidelines which provide the number of serves to aim for each day to help children reach their nutrient needs, or Recommended Dietary Intakes (RDIs). This approach means you can look to fill in the gaps from main meals with healthy snacks. It also means you do not need to be limited to ‘snack foods’ which can often be low in nutrients and high in saturated fat, sugar, or salt.

Here’s a summary of recommendations from The New Zealand Food and Nutrition Guidelines - Eat a variety of foods in regular meals and snacks from each of the four major food groups. Aim to meet the child’s energy needs for activity, growth, and to maintain a healthy body size.

Fruit and Vegetables – different colours and textures

2+ serves of fruit

3+ serves of vegetables

About one handful

2 small or 1 large fruit

1 medium potato or kumara

1/2 cup of Salad or Vegetables

Breads and cereals - increase the wholegrain products as children increase in age

You can also reach your recommended serves by having smaller portions of a serve size – for example ½ cup of low fat cottage cheese provides around ½ the calcium you may get in a pottle of yoghurt and is great mixed with avocado for a healthy spread or dip. You may also find 50g of meat or ½ a tin of tuna fits well in your standard sandwich and 25g of nuts is enough in a snack which leaves room for a meat serve at dinner time.

Here’s some of our favourite healthy snack ideas!

1/2 cup of low fat cottage cheese with 2 carrots cut into sticks

1/3 cup chickpeas roasted in lemon juice and herbs

2-3 grain, rice or corn wafers with 1/2 tin of tuna or salmon and sliced tomato